Edward A. Hannegan

Edward Allen Hannegan (25 June 1807-25 February 1859) was a member of the US House of Representatives (DR-IN 7) from 4 March 1833 to 3 March 1837 (preceding Albert S. White) and a US Senator from 4 March 1843 to 3 March 1849 (succeeding Oliver H. Smith and preceding James Whitcomb).

Biography
Edward Allen Hannegan was born in Hamilton County, Ohio in 1807 to a Presbyterian Irish family, and his family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky that same year. In 1825, Hannegan moved to Fountain County, Indiana to work as a ranch hand and schoolteacher, and he became a lawyer in Covington in 1829. He served in the state legislature before serving in the US House of Representatives from 1833 to 1837 and in the US Senate from 1843 to 1849. From 1849 to 1850, he served as ambassador to Prussia, and Queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria became infatuated with Hannegan; after Hannegan kissed the Queen's hand at a court function, a jealous Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia requested that Hannegan be recalled. In 1852, the alcoholic Hannegan murdered his brother-in-law, a Mexican-American War hero, during an argument about Hannegan's alcoholism and the future of his political career, and he was charged with manslaughter before the case was dismissed. He continued to practice law in Covington until 1857, when he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and he continued drinking and developed a morphine habit. In 1859, he gave a keynote speech endorsing Stephen A. Douglas for president, but he was under the influence of morphine, and his speech was poorly received. He returned to his home and died of a (possibly intentional) morphine overdose that same day.